Apparatus for



. m kw.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H. S. STEBBINS APPARATUS FOR BURNING WEEDS, ETC

Filed August 9. 1924 April 20 1926.

Natkuwq Hanf; 5: 525mm,

April zo 1926. A l 1,581,406

H. S. STEBBINS APPARATUS FOR BURNING WEEDS, ETC

Filed Augqst 9, l924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3mm/dot Patented Apr. 20, 1926.

PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY S. STEBIVBINS, 0F" JAMESTOWN, NORTH DAKOTA.

PPARATUS FOR BURNING WEEDS, ETC.

Application led August 9. 1924. Serial No. 731,065.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that HENRY S. STEBBINS, -a citizen of the United States, residing at Jamestown, in the county of Stutsman andv State of North Dakota, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Burning Weeds, Etc., of which the following is a specification.

` The object of this invention is to provide a weed burner, which, While primarily intended for burning Weeds and other growths alongside a railway track, .is ca-v pable, with only slight modification, of being used similarly for clearing the sides of paved roads, drying baseballiields, or race tracks, melting snow, and like purposes.

The invention comprehends a plurality of burners which burn a spray of oil and air and project along flame of intense heat, and in this connection, it further contemplates means whereby one or more of the burners may function at a time, with means for coniinn'o the flame from a'burner to its own locahty, so that it will not spread apprecii ably into the territory of vanother burner unless it is so desired.

With theseand other objects in view as' will hereinafter be more fully pointed o ut, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and wherein like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout Fig. 2 is va. plan view thereof,

Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation ofzthe' invention, A

Fig. 4 -is a vertical sectional view taken online of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional. view taken on line -`5 5 of Fig.A 2 sind Fig. 6 is a detail view in perspective of a fragment of the heat screen.

Referring to the drawings, reference numeral 2 designates vthe platform of a low flat car st upon'inverted channel bars 3 which rest upon the beams 4 constituting the main frame of the car. This main frame 'is suitably supported upon wheels 5 which travel' on the track rails 6. j

VExtending part way of, or entirely the length of the platform 2, are a plurality of channel beams 7, which, in the plan view,

will be seen to be four in number, and

are rigidly secured to the flat car by suitable clips 8 which are inverted U-shape and straddle the beams 7 and 4. These beams 7 extend rearwardly beyond the rear .end ofthe flat car and cooperating with these pro- Jectmgportions are parallel shorterpchannel beams 7a. To the under faces of the beams 71'and the projecting portions of the beams 7 is suitably secured a plateY 9. EX? tending downwardly from the plate 9, is a vertical plate 10 which forms the front end of the burner housing, said housing being completed by fixed side plates 12 and rear end plate 1.4, the plates 9-10-12 and 14 constituting an inverted pan-like housing the rails 6 and the latter on the outer Sides thereof, andthe purpose of these hinged plates Aor wings 17, 18a, and 18b is to close the space between the lower edges of the plates 12 and` 14 and the ground, thereby more effectively confining the flame and shielding it from strong winds. The wing side plates 17 extend at their lower edges below the lower edges of the wing rear plates 184, 18b necessitated by the slant of the road bed on both sides so thatthe weeds can be burned off to the grass or sod line of the road bed.

Hinged at 19 along their upper edges, are plates 2O parallel with and similar 4to the 'rigid .sideplate's 12, and theseplates 20 serve, when lowered, as partitionsto divide the otherwise single burner chambery into four separate compartments.

Extending rearwardly from the rear end plate 14, are a number of arms 21 and betweenpairs thereof and overlying-v the track Vrails 6 are long rollers 22 which extend below the plane of the lower edges of the rigid end plate 14 of the burner housing to engage upon the rails before the lower edges of the rigid end plate 14 can contact therewith, thereby preventing damage to the said end plate or other part of the burner housing through contact of the same with the track rails, as might 'be caused by any unevenness in the road-bed.

Burners 15 are located between. the pairs lio' of channel beams 7-7, there being one burner for each compartment formed by the dropping of the partitions 20, and these burners are of the type which burns oil and air with an intense heat and long flame. These burners are secured in place by gusset plates 24 at an inclination to project the flames at an angle downwardly and rearwardly through openings, not shown, provided in the top plate 9 of the burner housing. The oil is supplied to the burners through pipe 25 leading from the main oil supply to an oil pump 2G from which it is forced through pipe 27 and pipe 28 into transverse pipe 29 having branches 3C which lead into separate transverse pipes 3l having connection with nipples 32 which enter the burner. The pump.26 runs constantly and, therefore, if all the burners are not working, the excess of oil must be led back into the supply reservoir, for which purpose return `pipes 33 are provided, the same being in circuit with the main transverse feed pipe 29. An oil pressure gage 34 and pressure regulator 34 are provided in the return Y line 33.

Air is supplied to the burner-S15 through longitudinal upwardly inclined branches 35 leading from a transverse manifold 36, to which a blast of air is fed by 'a pipe 37 from a rotary compressor or blower 3S, which, like the manifold is preferably mounted on the beams 7 A power plant of the unit type is mounted upon the fiat car and includes an internal combustion engine 40, fuel tank 41, (which latter is not the main supply for the burners) and cooling radiator 42. Upon the ends of the power shaft of the engine are secured pulleys 43 and 44, theformer being connected to pulley 45 of the blower by means of a belt 46, while the pulley 44 is in driving connection' through belt 47 with the pulley 48 of the oil pump 26. Y

Each hinged side plate or wing 17 is raised and lowered by a chain 60 connected at its lower end to an arm 61 on the plate and the chain then passes over pulley 62, then across the top of the burner housing, around pulley 63, then longitudinally to a hand lever 64, this arrangement being duplicated for each side plate or wing 17. The rear hinged plates 18a, 18, are raised and lowered, each by a chain 66 attached to an arm 61 on the plate and extending vertically to an arm 67, there vbeing three of thesearms projecting from a transverse rockshaft GS journaled in bearing brackets 69. These brackets are, in turn, mounted on a transverse angle bar 70 seated on top of the longitudinal beams 7, 7a. The rock shaft 68 is provided with another arm 7l from which a link or other desirable connection 72 extends forwardly to 4a hand lever 73.

The partitions 2O are raised and lowered by a suitable mechanism such as flexible connections 75 and hand levers 76, the latter being preferably adjacent the hand levers 64 and 73.

Because of the intense heat given out by the flames from the burners and which rises from the rear portions mostly of the burner housing, it is preferable to have a heat screen in the nature of a transverse plate extending entirely across the burner housing, set on edge and hinged at 81 to the upper faces of each longitudinal beam 7, 7, said screen plate being notched to receive the said beams and having the portions 82 between the notches extending down between the beams to a point adjacent the top plate 9 of the burner housing. Any desired means` not shown, may be employed to hold the heat screen in vertical position, and when not in 'such position, it 1s folded down upon the tops of the said longitudinal beams. The purpose of this screen is to shield the operator who stands on the flat car within reach of the aforementioned hand levers.

In operation, the burner unit is attached to the flat car by the clips 8, and this car may either be attached to or form part of a work or other car which preferably carries the main oil supply for the burners and is propelled or self propelling. rlhe entire burner housing will be supported clear of the rails and the ground. The rollers 22 being disposed to engage with the trac-k rails before thc housing can contact therewith, will prevent the housing from striking the rails and becoming injured because of any unevenuess in the road bed; and when the rollers 22 are engaged with the track rails, straining is further prevented bythe fact that the beams 7 can separate slightly from therear part of the fiat car platform and raise because of the single line of connections 8 being at the forward ends of the beams 7. As the car travels along the rails, with the wing plates l 17` 18, 18 dropped and one or more. of thel burners lighted, the flame or flames from the lighted burners will play upon the weeds growing along the track bed and destroy the same. lVhen the car is passing through yards, over switches and the like.l the wing plates are all raised to clear the rails and thereby prevent any damaging contact between the plates and rails, but at other times, the wing plates are lowered to protect the flame from the wind and to confine the same since the burners Working under great pressure will throw an intense flame well beyond the rear end and even the sides of the burner housing unless the same is confined.

Should it be desired to burn the weeds along the shoulders only, then only the burners overlying the shoulders arev lighted, and the outer artitions 20 dropped to confine tbe iiame to t e shoulder. yIf only the weeds between the rails are to be burned, then only' tion dropped to confine the ame to that section, and so on in various combinations as called for by the articular surface burning or heating desired.-

The preferred construction and arrangement of apparatus thus specifically set forth may evidently be modified, and its mounting -fined in the claims.

upon a separatel or combined car be varied, without departing from the inventlon as de- What is claimed is 1. In a surface heater, the combination with a vehicle, of a housingl supported thereby, a plurality of burners arranged to direct flames within said housing, and adjustable means within the housing for dividing the interior of the latter into compartments.

2. In a surface heater, the combination with a vehicle having a running gear frame,

of arearward extension from said frame sup orted solely thereby and overhanging sur acc to be heated, a burner mechanism carried bv said extension above saidl surface, and a safety roller carried by said extension clear of said surface and disposed in a lower plane than the burner mechanism to prevent the latter from contacting with said surface.

3'. In a surface" heater, the combination with avehicle, of a burner mechanism over-- hangingly supported thereby labovethe surface to be traversed, supporting means secured to the'vehicle so as to permit upward yielding movement of the overhanging por-- tion thereof, and surface contacting means carried by said overhanging portion in a plane below the burner mechanism but nor- 4mally above the surface traversed.

4. In a surface heater, the combination' with a vehicle, of a burner housing supported b the vehicle above the surface to be traverse adjustable partitions dividing the housing into successlve adjacent compartments, vand a burner for each com artment, the burners being su ported by sai housing.

5. -In a surface eater, vthe combination with a vehicle, of a burner housing vsup-v ported therebyl above the surface tobe traversed, a plurality-of burners forsaid burner housing, andv means whereby the burner housing may be changed from a single compartment to a plural compartment'structure.

6. In a surface heater, the combination with a vehicle, of a burner .housing supported thereby above the surface to be traversed.-a plurality of burners for said burner housing, and means` whereby the burner housing may be changed from a single com- Apartaient tofs?, compartment structure,

with vat least one burner for each compartment.

7. In a` surface heater, the combination with av vehicle, of aburner housing supported thereby above the surface to be traversed, hinged partitions within said housing movable to change the same from a single to a plural compartment structure, means for in` dependently moving said partitions, Vand at least one burner for every compartment to which the com artment may be changed.

8. In a sur ace'heater, the combination with a vehicle, of aburner housing supported thereby above the surface to be traversed, .flame conmng means carried by said houslng and adapted to be lowered into close proximity to the said surface, partitions movable to change the housing from a single compartment tol a'p'lural compartment structure, and at least one burner for each of said compartments.

9. In va surface heater, the combination with a vehicle, of a housing member, a se.-

ries of parallel beams resting on said vehicle p vand projecting therebeyond and said projecting portions supporting lsaid housing above the surface to be traversed, and burn-- 'ers for said housing supported between said beams.v v

l0. In a surface heater, the combination with a vehicle, of a housing member, beams resting on said vehicle and projecting therebeyond and said projecting portions supporting- `said housing above the surface to be traversed, a burner for said housing between each pair of beams, and partitions movable to change said housing from a single compartment to a plural compartment structure, with at least one burner for each compartment.

- 11. In a surface heater, the combination with a vehicle, of a burner housing, beams projecting beyond said vehicle andtheir projecting portions supporting the burner housing above the surface to be, traversed, burnj ers mounted each between a pair of beams at an angle to project their flames downwardl and rearwardly, adjustable-division plates disposed intermediate said burners, and

`means movable to substantially close the space between said housing andsaid surface to confine the flame. j

12. In a surface heater, the combination with a railwa vehicle having a running gear frame, o a rearward extension from said frame supported solely thereby and overhanging the surface to be heated, a burner-mechanism carried by said extension above said surface, and rail-contact means carried by said extension Vin a plane below the burner mechanism but normally above the rail surface.

In testimony whereof I aix my si -HENRY S. STEB INS.

ature. 

